Board Thread:Pokémon Help/@comment-31398341-20170703145512/@comment-27535813-20180212073403

Jerdeboi wrote:

Trevastyah wrote: explain how it can beat some of "The Meta™" A few example matchups Zoroark VS Cloyster Zoroark always beats cloyster if zoroark has sucker punch

Zoroark VS Mega Lucario 70% of winning with focus blast

Zoroark vs Char Y Wins If Char Y gets flinched (Not Uncommon with dark pulse)

Zoroark vs char X Win with dark pulse

Zoroark vs BlazikenLoses unless focus blast crits

Zoroark vs Lugia 3HKO on lugia

Zoroark vs mega salemence Can win if Crit

While it's not the best metakiller out there, It can be a number of these high tier threats

If we were to view in most situations, Zoroark has an issue switching-in to these mons(due to its fraility and for the sake of preserving Illusion for a purpose or so), and even if both mons were out on the same turn, there are two other things that can happen. One is that the opposing mon switches out due to the threat at which Zoroark's Illusion poses, and the other is which the opposing mon stays when they know that it is Zoroark as its Illusion has worn off. Most Pokemon aren't going to switch into Zoroark if they know it's carrying Sucker Punch after scouting its moveset or some move that does supereffective damage.

The next thing we would talk about is not just situations that come into play, but the sets that Zoroark runs. Mixed attacking sets run mixed EV investments in ATK and SP.ATK, so this means you may fall short of damage on Dark Pulse, Focus Blast and Sucker Punch. This is further added by you saying 'equipping Focus Sash' on your earlier post, without a damage boosting item, it's only fall short of damage even more.

Lastly, we talk about each matchup you've just said. I can see your point on beating Cloyster, but the situation is very restrictive, in that you need to get a hit with something like Dark Pulse then hitting with a Sucker Punch. Focus Blast miss chance and Flinch chance is overestimated and therefore does not make it too big of a threat. Dark Pulse doesn't really beat Char X unless it gets to hit Char X once on the switch, and then let Char X outspeed it, bring Zoroark down to 1 HP due to Focus Sash and then hit Char X again with Dark Pulse. Note that this entire scenario is not guaranteed to happen and is also very unreliable. There are more reliable lure techniques aside from this. Crits are unlikely to happen and shouldn't be counted upon, but treat that as you wish. Mega Salamence and Blaziken also will most likely outspeed, so good luck with that. Lugia has Roost so 3HKO won't do anything to it lol.

All in all, there could have been other examples that you could've said like Ferrothorn and Tyranitar but you didn't so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.